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Feb 22, 2026
This week’s themeWords that sound dirty, but aren’t This week’s words invaginate fucate sexpartite cockalane autogamous How popular are they? Relative usage over time AWADmail archives Index Next week’s theme Words one letter apart 
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AWADmail Issue 1234A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and LanguageSponsor’s Message: ONEUPMANSHIP 3.0 is “a rollicking excuse for mad, mutually-abusive annihilation.” One Up! -- guaranteed to turn your whole family into “greedy, self-serving punks.” Wise Up! will “ruin Christmas and friendships” or your money back. All our fun and games are BOGO today only. Shop now. From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Subject: Interesting stories from the Net What French Romance Novels Could Tell Us About AI and Translation Jobs The New York Times Permalink Meet Tatu and Loulis -- the Last of the “talking” Chimpanzees The National Geographic Permalink From: Nancy Minden (mindenhons gmail.com) Subject: Words that sound dirty My husband and I are longtime major fans of yours and continue to enjoy A.Word.A.Day every day. Thank you! I loved discovering the new word invaginate yesterday. I am writing to share with you the deep disappointment I felt when I saw the description of your category of words this week: “Words that sound dirty, but aren’t.” These are great new words that sound sexual but may not be. It has taken many decades for us to begin to disassociate sexuality from the concept of being dirty. Sex may be one of the greatest gifts of creation and somehow we’ve gone awry and misappropriated the concept of dirt with sex. Please seriously reconsider changing the category name and supporting a healthy positive approach to our sexuality. Thank you for reconsidering and helping to arrest a lot of shame and sadness that we’re working hard to transform. Nancy Minden, Haifa, Israel
Thanks for your kind words and your perspective. You weren’t
alone in that feeling. We even had a few cancellations over it.
Here “dirty” was intended in the sense of a dirty joke, not as
in dirty deeds.
-Anu Garg From: Chris Murray (cmurray1217 gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--invaginate The Pope was puzzling over a crossword puzzle when he asked an assistant, “What’s a four-letter word ending in U-N-T that refers to women?” His assistant was taken aback, thought for a moment and replied, “Aunt?” The Pope said, “Have you got an eraser?” Chris Murray, Charlottesville, Virginia From: Chris MacIntosh (chrismac alumni.upenn.edu) Subject: This week’s words This topic reminded me of volva. As a naturalist leading fungus walks in winter (in N California it’s fungus season now) I use that word a lot. It describes a feature on mushrooms in the Amanita genus. Chris MacIntosh, Redwood City, California From: David Rubin (david_s_rubin hotmail.com) Subject: almost nasty words Here’s an old chestnut. What’s a word that begins with f and ends in uck? Scroll down for polite answer. Firetruck. David Rubin, Chapel Hill, North Carolina From: Jon Aalborg (jaalborg me.com) Subject: On sheath, vagina, etc. In Norwegian, and I would think in Danish and possibly Icelandic, the word for a sheath (for a sword) and a vagina is the same: skjede, pronounced SHEE-duh. “Stikk sverdet i skjeden” is what Jesus told Peter to do in Gethsemane in the Bible I grew up with, and it literally means “push the sword into the sheath” or “sheathe the sword”. Admittedly it is a somewhat outdated figure of speech -- not very many carry swords in public anymore -- and yes, it may also be understood in a sexual sense. Jon Aalborg, Oslo, Norway From: Charlie Cockey (czechpointcharlie gmail.com) Subject: Re: invaginate and Randy Newman I cannot, given the illustration you used and the Latin meaning of the word vagina, resist quoting Randy Newman, who wrote the song “A Wedding in Cherokee County”: “Why must everybody laugh at my mighty sword.” (Lyrics) Charlie Cockey, Brno, Czech Republic From: Luke Reynolds (luke.reynolds gmail.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--invaginate The most advanced science class in my high school was zoology, and there I learned about invagination in embryology. Nearly all multicellular animals (human embryos too) begin as a ball of cells (blastula) and invaginate (in the sense of turning outside in). In mammals, early invagination contributes to the formation of the body cavities (the coelom, pronounced see-lum). Luke Reynolds, Seattle, Washington From: Henry M. Willis (hmw ssdslaw.com) Subject: Fucate One word sums up this week’s theme: ineffable! Henry Willis, Los Angeles, California
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From: Ted Estersohn (ted wavechair.com) Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sexpartite On Father’s Day in 2011 the folk music community of W. Philadelphia was summoned to a potluck party/reunion. As it happens that day was my 60th birthday. In spite of the prevailing DIY covered dish group ethos, I went to my favorite S. Phila. bakery and got a big old chocolate/chocolate sheet cake, not being about to try to bake for 50 people that I’ve known for 40 years (or forego my birthday cake.) I had the icer write “Happy Sexidecennial, Ted” in red. I wrote out the spelling. That cake didn’t last long enough to garner feedback on the inscription. Ted Estersohn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania From: Lekha Warrior (lekhawarrior gmail.com) Subject: Cockalane In French we use the word coq-à-l’âne to describe a rambling or a string of sentences that don’t have any coherent connections. Something without any or much transition. Like if I said I ate bread for breakfast to an office colleague and then continued that I’d published an article about financial stability in the next sentence. When I speak like that I usually say “My two neurons aren’t working well today.” French-speaking Belgians are very modest, I’ve learnt over the years, and they love talking about the lack of neurons in themselves and others. Lekha Warrior, Brussels, Belgium From: Paul Hoffman (paul hoffman.im) Subject: Cockalane There’s a similar-sounding word in Yiddish, kochaleyn, but the derivation and meaning are entirely different. Literally, it means “to cook alone”, or “to cook by yourself”. Historically, it refers to an inexpensive type of Catskill resort composed of individual cabins with kitchens, so one didn’t have to pay for restaurant meals. Paul Hoffman, New York, New York From: Glenn Glazer (glenn.glazer gmail.com) Subject: autogamous The first thing that comes to mind are tribbles from “The Trouble with Tribbles” Star Trek episode written by David Gerrold. Tribbles are born pregnant and absent predation, this leads to an exponential growth rate. Glenn Glazer, Felton, California From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com) Subject: invaginate and sexpartite  
Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California Anagrams
Make your own anagrams and animations. Limericks invaginate “Your swords,” said the sultan, “invaginate, And mount up! Let’s go conquer their caliphate! I’ve eaten my Wheaties, And torn up our treaties! These days that’s the trend! We won’t vacillate!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “The turkey you next will invaginate; In the bag full of brine, let it marinate,” Said the cookbook. “Then roast Until golden like toast, And your guests at Thanksgiving will salivate!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) fucate His natural skin tone is gray, But now he is fucate, I’d say. An odd sort of yellow Is this famous fellow, Because he makes use of a spray. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) “There’s little about us that’s true, Kate; Our public personas are fucate,” Said Prince William. “And yet, Adulation you’ll get When announcing my son and heir’s due date!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) sexpartite If into this pie you do bite Make sure it’s been cut sexpartite. Then you won’t overeat, But will still get a treat, And five others can join the delight. -Ann Serdula, Deep River, Canada (annserdula97 yahoo.ca) The architect’s blueprints looked fine; He’d made a sexpartite design. I was really impressed, And noted in jest, “I can’t even draw a straight line.” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) He suggested an orgy for six, A sexpartite affair, just for kicks. His wife, unamused, Said, “I’m not enthused, And your kinky idea I will nix.” -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) The young man had some very strange tics; He would always do things with a six. This sexpartite obsession, Had led to depression. It wouldn’t be easy to fix. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) While two idiots started the bar fight, In seconds it grew to sexpartite. But five soon went flying And ran away crying, No match, they found out, for Hoss Cartwright! -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) cockalane Some cockalanes Trump tends to tell, And often on windmills he’ll dwell. He’ll work up a lather And on he will blather, As listeners know all too well. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) Oh, spare me your cockalanes, please; I’ve heard way too many of these. If you hear me snoring, It’s all ‘cause you’re boring Whenever you’re shooting the breeze. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) All the fellow came up with, you see, Was a cockalane! What he told me Made no sense, not at all But yet he had the gall To say “Yessir, my own history!” -Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com) “Though my play was a five-hour cockalane,” Said Hamlet’s ghost, “How dare thee mock a Dane? We’re defended by NATO; The world’s not thy Play-Doh! In Greenland, sir, thou wilt not block our reign!” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) autogamous Autogamous plants, it is known, Can manage just fine on their own. For a mate they’ve no use Since they self-reproduce -- They’re happy when they’re left alone. -Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com) A curious creature’s a snail, With some neither male nor female - An autogamous plus! So there’s no need to fuss; They impregnate themselves, without fail. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) As tomatoes and beans are autogamous, They behave with decorum, not wantonness. But our egos inflate When in search of a mate, Making human stupidity bottomless. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Puns “Dad, where does my willy go my first time with a girl?” “Use your invaginate-ion.” -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) Keeping everything in the family, Tony had his ne-fucate-r his daughter’s wedding. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) What a sna-fucate thought about the leaked royal family photos. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “During the sexpartite-ried to keep my eyes closed,” said the Pope after the film screening. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) She auditioned for the sexpartite, as a few drinks helped her to lose her inhibitions. -Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com) “For Trump’s brand of poppy-cockalane opened up with publication of his ghostwritten autobiography The Art of the Deal, wrote the future historian in The Fall of American Democracy. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) “Monogamous? More like autogamous,” fumed Henry Ford’s wife about his late nights at the factory. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com) A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
We have abundant reason to rejoice, that, in this land, the light of truth
and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and
that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own
heart. In this enlightened age, and in this land of equal liberty, it is
our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection
of the laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the
highest offices that are known in the United States. -George Washington,
1st US president, general (22 Feb 1732-1799)
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